Sir Alex Ferguson has earmarked Wayne Rooney
for the Footballer of the Year gong.
Rooney's Manchester United team-mate Ryan Giggs scooped the PFA
Player of the Year award last Sunday and now attention turns the
Football Writers' award and Ferguson has backed the 23-year-old to
land the honour.
"I don't think anyone could argue with him as Footballer of the
Year. He's certainly been consistent enough," the United boss said
in The Observer.
Rooney has caught the eye of late playing in a wide-left role
for the Red Devils and Ferguson has been impressed with the manner
in which the former Everton man has taken on the role.
Ferguson added: "Wayne is actually starting to
enjoy playing on the left now. He's still scoring goals, but in a
different way.
"Where he eventually settles down depends on the make-up of the
rest of the team, but he's capable of playing anywhere in a forward
position and the great thing is he's happy to make any position
work."
Rooney scored his first Premier League goal against Arsenal as a
16-year-old and seven years later the England international is set
to face the Gunners for a place in the final of the UEFA Champions
League on Tuesday.
And Ferguson revealed United were tracking the Liverpool-born
forward when he was in the Everton academy before forking out £26
million to land the former Toffee.
"When we signed Wayne, it was a bargain at the
time. We knew what we were getting," the Scot said in The News
of the World.
"We had identified him a long time before that. We tried to get
him at 14 and then again when he was 16.
"Eventually we had to pay that money for him. I said to him if
he had joined us earlier he could have had the £26million for
himself!